


Just You and Me

by foxelot



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Christmas, Christmas Fluff, Fluff, M/M, Marriage Proposal, Veterinarian!Merlin, teacher!arthur - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-20
Updated: 2018-03-20
Packaged: 2019-04-05 01:08:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,223
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14032833
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/foxelot/pseuds/foxelot
Summary: Merlin would only ever admit it out loud under much scrutiny because he had to save face somehow, but there’s no other way he’d rather spend his Christmas morning.





	Just You and Me

**Author's Note:**

> This work is unbeta'd. All mistakes are my own.

It’s with bleary eyes and long after he told Arthur he’d be in, that Merlin finally stumbles back into their flat. He loves his job, he really does, but he doesn’t love when he’s about to leave and an emergency case comes in. He especially doesn’t love it on days that he’s supposed to actually be home to eat dinner with his boyfriend. It’s so rare that their schedules line up that way, and Merlin hates it every time he has to call and cancel. Sometimes he stops to wonder if the look of relief on the pet owner’s face is enough to counteract Arthur’s disappointed tone every time Merlin calls. Sometimes it isn’t. 

His hand blindly pats on the wall as Merlin tries to find the light switch in his exhaustion. He suspects Arthur’s long gone to bed considering it’s past ten, and he has to wake up at five most days. Once the switch is located and turned on, Merlin stops in surprise at the sight of Arthur asleep on the couch. His heart pangs a little at the sight, too. Toeing off his shoes, Merlin slowly pads across the room, socks quiet on the carpet, and places a gentle hand on Arthur’s shoulder. “Wake up, love,” he says softly. “Let’s get you to a proper bed.” That’s all Merlin wants to do, so much that he’s momentarily tempted to leave Arthur there. But Merlin knows that he’ll never fall asleep in an empty bed, and they both can’t fit on the couch to sleep. 

Arthur groans, always the light sleeper, and a single blue eye opens to look at Merlin sleepily. Then he stretches a little as he sits up, hair rumpled on one side in a way that makes Merlin smile sleepily. “Time is it?” Arthur asks with another groan despite the clock on the wall not even two feet from him. 

“Just after ten,” Merlin tells him as he tugs the blonde to his feet. Best to get Arthur to the bed before he wakes up too much, or he’ll toss and turn for a while. “C’mon, the bed is better for sleeping on.” 

Humming, Arthur leans against Merlin and lets himself be tugged through the flat to the bedroom. Once the couple are there, Merlin coaxes Arthur down on his side of the bed before crossing to the dresser to get his pajamas. As he exerts the effort to open the drawer, Merlin debates just sleeping in his clothes, but they smell of cats and dogs and that one hamster, and that’s not something he wants on the sheets really. He really should shower too, but that’s more than he thinks he can handle right now. Instead he just removes his coat, slowly peels off his trousers, unbuttons his shirt, and replaces them with soft pajama pants and an old t-shirt. 

Almost as soon as he’s on the bed, settling against his pillow with a sigh, Arthur’s clinging to him. One of Merlin’s hands comes up to run through Arthur’s hair a little as he lets his eyes close. It isn’t having dinner together, but sleepy cuddles are one of Merlin’s favorite things to do with Arthur, so he’s content for the moment. Once he’s relaxed, the pleasant warmth of Arthur at his side, Merlin finds that sleep comes easily. 

However, morning comes too quickly, because Merlin always finds himself awake shortly after Arthur leaves the bed even though Merlin doesn’t need to be awake at five for his job. Groaning, the brunette rolls to the other side of the bed, empty but still warm, and stuffs his face into Arthur’s pillow. Sometimes the scents there help lull him back to sleep, but today he has no such luck. It takes only a few minutes for him to realize this, and Merlin groans again, this time forcing his eyes to open against the heaviness pressing them down. The more he wakes up, the more aware he is, and he can hear the shower running. A brief thought flashes through his mind of joining Arthur, but he’s not sure he’s quite awake enough yet. He does need a shower though... 

The idea gets squashed when the shower cuts off before Merlin’s even sat up in bed yet and the sounds of Arthur coming back to the room reach his ears. The blonde pauses when he sees Merlin’s awake, and he smiles. “Morning,” he greets as he goes to the closet to get clothes for the day because Arthur’s one of those people that’s always dressed. Merlin, on the other hand, appreciates a good day lounging in his pajamas if he can. 

The response Merlin manages isn’t quite an actual word, but he makes a noise all the same, and it earns him another smile. The two exist in a comfortable silence as Merlin wakes up some more, and Arthur finishes dressing. “Go shower while I make breakfast,” Arthur says as he does up his last button. 

Merlin nearly frowns in confusion before it clicks in his brain that neither of them have work that day. At least he hopes neither of them do because it’s Christmas, but Merlin is always on-call for pet emergencies. Making an affirmative noise, he finally gets around to pushing himself up in bed and stretching his arms over his head. Seeing that Merlin is mobilizing, Arthur leaves the room with another smile, leaving the brunette to get ready.

Showering doesn’t take all that long, and soon Merlin is getting dressed himself, though he opts for more comfortable clothing of sweats and a t-shirt next to Arthur’s actually properly dressed. As he walks towards the kitchen, he can hear the sizzle of sausages being cooked, and Merlin smiles. It’s so much progress from the days when Arthur making breakfast just meant cereal. 

Stopping in the doorway, Merlin watches Arthur for a moment before crossing the linoleum to wrap his arms around Arthur’s waist and rest his chin on Arthur’s shoulder. His eyes close, and he could almost fall asleep again if not for Arthur moving to flip the sausages every so often. It’s then that the scent of coffee brewing hits his nose, and Merlin abandons his Arthur-bed to get a cup of that instead. Once he’s had at least two sips, the beverage warming him inside out, Merlin asks, “Toast too?” 

“If you don’t mind,” Arthur replies, as he moves the sausages to plates that already have eggs on them. 

Setting his mug down, Merlin grabs the bread and makes the toast to add to the plates as well. Then they sit down at the table to eat. It’s still not having dinner together, but it kind of makes up for it a little. They don’t get to share breakfast that often either. “How was work yesterday?” Arthur asks once he gauges that Merlin is awake enough to actually hold a conversation.

“It was okay. Pretty standard stuff until the dog with the exposed bone came in. There was a cat named Spot, too, which I thought was fun,” Merlin replies with another sip of his coffee. “What’d you get up to all day, Mr. Teacher?” 

Arthur rolls his eyes. “Put up with Morgana trying to convince me to convince you that we should go to Father’s for dinner tonight. I told her no.” They had agreed months ago that this year they would have a simple Christmas with just the two of them and visit family in the days following. 

“You should at least call him. I’m calling my parents after we do presents,” Merlin says with a tolerant and somewhat teasing smile. Spending an uninterrupted day with Arthur is all Merlin wants, but he can’t leave his parents without so much as a Merry Christmas. What kind of son would that make him?” 

“I’ll think about it,” Arthur says with a snort. He knows he’ll probably give in, but he has to put up a fight all the same. That’s just how they do things. 

The only reply he gets is a hum as Merlin finishes off his coffee. “Presents now?” the brunette asks eagerly. 

Arthur nods and stands to collect the plates, leaving Merlin to go to the living room. Except, Merlin has other plans and quickly liberates the plates from Arthur’s hands. “You cooked,” he explains with a shrug. Arthur doesn’t fight him and goes to settle in the other room while Merlin rinses the dishes and loads the dishwasher. 

As Merlin enters the living room to join Arthur, he pauses at the sight of an absolutely massive box in the corner. It doesn’t even fit under the tree, and Merlin is pretty sure it hadn’t been there when he’d left the morning before. How had he not noticed that the night before? “That one’s last,” he hears Arthur saying, and turns his attention to see the blonde watching him from where he’s sat down in front of the tree. Merlin shrugs and joins him there, grabbing the first box his hands reach. 

He wants to protest the box, since they had discussed only getting small gifts this year, but he doesn't want to make a fuss on Christmas morning of all days. He figures that’s why Arthur hid it until the last minute. 

Getting through the gifts under the tree doesn’t have much of a process to it, the two young men grabbing boxes at random and making sure they went to the right person. Soon the floor around them is littered with ripped paper and discarded bows, and each of them has a nice pile of presents from each other. The only thing left now is the large box in the corner that Arthur has to actually get up to move to towards Merlin. 

Sitting up onto his knees, Merlin rips the paper off and pulls the box open. Once he has, he frowns because inside that box is another box, and his eyes move to Arthur’s face that looks far too smug and maybe a little apprehensive. There was blatantly going against the small gift rule, and then there was whatever Arthur thought he was playing at here. But it doesn’t break the rule now, so Merlin doesn't say anything. Instead he just dives further into the box and unwraps the second box to find... a third box. This time he lets out a stunned huff of a laugh, amusement winning out over everything else. The pattern continues until Merlin is on his sixth box that he has to actually remove from the stack of boxes to open. “Arthur seriously?” he jokes as he sits back with a box so small he can’t imagine it containing another one. 

“Just open it,” Arthur says, and if Merlin had been paying more attention he would notice that Arthur is much more nervous suddenly. 

Obediently, Merlin rips off the paper, revealing a small, velvet box underneath. Immediately, he recognizes it as a jewelry box. His eyes slide up to Arthur for just a second before his fingers pry the box open. Inside is a silver band that has an ornate design etched onto it, and Merlin’s breath catches in his throat. He picks the ring up gently and looks at Arthur who is staring back at him intently. 

“Marry me, Merlin?” 

The world seems to stop for a moment, and Merlin can feel himself nodding, unable to find his voice all of a sudden. Then Arthur’s arms are around him and Merlin is hiding his face in Arthur’s shoulder, happy tears threatening to erupt and run down his face. They stay like that for a long time before Merlin collects himself and pulls back enough to look Arthur in the eye, careful to not break the connection between them. “Prat,” he accuses. 

“I propose to you and you call me a prat?” Arthur asks with a raised eyebrow but he’s grinning, and the effect is lost. 

“You made me cry is what you did,” Merlin says as he finally moves to put the ring on his finger. “I love you.” 

“Obviously, I love you too.”

Debating for a moment to be a pest and call Arthur on his word choice, Merlin eventually elects to just press his lips against the blonde’s instead. Merlin would only ever admit it out loud under much scrutiny because he had to save face somehow, but there’s no other way he’d rather spend his Christmas morning. He doesn’t think he’s ever been happier, even when Arthur had finally agreed to a date after months of persisting or when he’d finally finished veterinary school. 

Unfortunately, even the most perfect moments don’t last forever. 

Merlin’s pressing little kisses against Arthur’s mouth still when he hears it. The phone is in the bedroom, but there’s no mistaking the ringtone he set specifically for work. Pulling away from Arthur with a groan, Merlin looks towards their bedroom door. 

“Go on. Save some animals,” Arthur urges him, still smiling. “I’ll still be here when you get back.” 

Sighing, Merlin steals one more kiss before getting to his feet to go change into his work clothes. A veterinary emergency isn’t his ideal Christmas, but after the morning he’s had already, he can’t really find the negative energy to complain, too busy floating on the cloud of his new engagement instead.


End file.
